As We Begin Again
by JennThompson75
Summary: Post Allegiant. Only real difference is Tris. Tris and Tobias are back in Chicago and back in Dauntless creating a new life together when Tobias stumbles upon something that will change their 'happily ever after'. Summaries are hard, but it's a good story. Give it a try :)


Tris POV

I love the smell of wet pavement after it rains. I close my eyes and take it in. It smells free, its smells old and new at the same time. It reminds me of simpler days; when I was just a skinny girl from Abnegation. I let myself go back for just a moment, visions of my mother cutting my hair, my father chopping vegetables in the kitchen, Caleb helping him. I miss them. I feel a pang of guilt in my chest. They died trying to save me.

"What do you think Tris?" a voice snaps me back to reality; I open my eyes and remember where I am.

"Uh, sorry. Say that again?" I wasn't listening, oops.

"We were just discussing the idea of having two representatives from each faction in the new government" the man sitting at the head of the table fills me in. His name is Andy West and he pretty much runs the show these days. He's a divergent like me, except he chose to be Erudite. So he's smart but he's also honest, and he's fairly laid back. He has an aptitude for Erudite, Candor and Amity. Strange mix, but it works. He has a face that people trust, his sandy blond hair is short and sleek and he has light green eyes, the kind that welcomes you in somehow. You feel as if you could tell him your darkest secrets and he'd keep them safe. I haven't tested that theory and I don't plan to. He's maybe a few years older than Tobias, making him pretty young to be in the role that he is.

"Ah, yes. I think that's a great idea. Two is better than one," I agree.

"Good" he says, "well I think that's enough for one day. Meeting adjourned." I stand up from my seat; I smile at my colleagues and duck out of the door. I check my watch, its 5pm. Tobias should be done work soon, I decide to head home to the apartment rather than wait around for him here, lately the meetings he's been involved in go late into the evening. Being a grown up can really blow sometimes.

After the war and after the Bureau, Chicago opened up its metaphorical doors to some of the people on the fringe. If they so wished to live here they could, however living here meant factions and not many of them went for it. I honestly thought after all we'd been through as a society we would scrap the factions. I mean look at what Erudite and Dauntless were capable of. We tried it for a while but it didn't work, people needed to belong somewhere and before we knew it the old factions were back; people just conformed back to life as it was.

* * *

Tobias and I don't live at the dauntless compound anymore. With or without factions, a new government changes things. Also, the war changed things. When Chicago became open again the acting leaders realized that we needed more space to house people. Being surrounded by huge abandoned skyscrapers made this small problem easily solvable. The Bureau gave the city an astonishing amount of resources so that we could 'rebuild'. Basically meaning that we fixed some of the huge gaping holes in the sides of buildings and renovated some of the insides of certain buildings to be apartments. It all took about a year, but it was worth it. We don't have any contact with the Bureau now. I think it's best that way, we need to rebuild our society on our own, and we need to figure out a way to make it work. When Tobias and I heard that the factions got first dibs on apartments, we jumped at the chance. A lot of people stayed behind but for me, and for Tobias, the old Dauntless compound held to many hard memories. It felt like a new wave of pain hit me every time I turned around. The chasm, where Peter, Drew and Al attacked me and that later Al threw himself into, the hallway my dad died in, the control room where Tobias almost killed me, the fear landscape room where Eric injected me with the simulation serum. It was all too much.

We now live in the 860 Lake Shore Drive apartments. We have a view of the marsh, and across the marsh, the Ferris wheel. I wanted to live in the Hancock building but Tobias being afraid of heights still, wouldn't go for it.

It's about a 20-minute walk from where we work, the Aon Center, to home. When I reach the building I'm tired. It's been a long day of boring meetings. I thought when I took this job it would be more fun. My role will pretty much be to run the police, once we have a police, in the meantime I've somehow found myself part of the team responsible for creating a sustainable government, I don't remember signing up for it.

I walk through the big glass doors and press the button for the elevator. It pings and I step inside hitting the number 26, it illuminates and the doors slide shut.

When I get off on my floor I fumble around for my keys in my bag, I have a bag now; it has bits of paper I'm meant to read, various keys and a drink in it. I find the ones to the apartment, identified by a little Ferris wheel keychain Tobias gave me when we moved in; I slide the key in the door and open it.

The first thing I see when I lift my head up from the door handle is Tobias's handsome face, beaming back at me. I smile, "hey, what are you doing back here so early?' I ask, relieved to see him, I need some Tobias time. He bites his lip as I close the door behind me and slip my bag off my shoulder onto the wooden floor.

"I got out of my meeting early" he smiles as I walk toward where he is sitting on the couch, I plop myself down next to him and he wraps his arms around my shoulders, I lean down resting my head on his chest.

"I'm so glad you're here," I whisper. He kisses the top of my head and takes a deep breath and I know he is taking in my scent. I love him.

"I'm so glad you're here" he replies, "How was your day?"

"Ugh, it was long and boring. Andy was proposing all these new ideas for the new government. It never ends. I cant wait till we get to the part about policing the city and I get out of the office and onto the streets again. I need to _do_ something" my words come out a little more frustrated than I intended. I feel Tobias nod. I know he understands. He was picked as one of the lucky few from Dauntless who might be picked to actually be part of the government when it all gets rolling. The people in the different factions will have to vote, they will choose one candidate from each faction and then the top two from each will be given a seat, or something like that. I don't really follow it all to be honest. I just nod my head and go with my gut on most things.

"Yeah, I understand Tris" he says, "my day was pretty similar except we finished around 4, I haven't been that excited since that night at Zeke's when he brought out the Dauntless chocolate cake. YUM." He laughs, I laugh too.

"You did not just compare your job ending early to Dauntless cake" I say jokingly.

"I absolutely did," he laughs back.

I stare up at him for a moment and he stares back at me; I lean up to kiss him. His lips meet mine and its like everything stops. Nothing in the world is moving; it's just me and him, and this kiss. I break away, and gaze into his eyes.

"What are you thinking?" he quizzes me. I bite my lip and smile back at him. He raises one eyebrow at me and gives me a cheeky grin; I lean back down into him, fitting his lips to mine. I move my body so that I am straddling him on the couch, his hands find the small of my back and he beings to guide them up over my sides, and I sigh into his mouth at his touch. It's too much for him to handle and he lifts me up in his arms and carries me, still kissing him into our bedroom. He sits on down on the bed, and lies back his hands grasped around my waist. I sit up on top of him and he hooks his thumbs under them hem of my shirt, I help him out and quickly pull my shirt over my head, throwing it to the ground. He stares at me for a moment. "I've been waiting for this all day," he whispers. He flips me over in one swift movement and now it is him who is on top of me, he quickly lifts his tee over his head and throws it down next to mine on the floor. He leans down and kisses my neck, inching lower and lower until he reaches my tattoos, he lingers on each one, and I try to remember to breathe. My mind is spinning. I _need_ him. It doesn't matter how many times he touches me or kisses me, its like each time is the first time and I can't get enough of him.

Tobias POV

It's Saturday today. I live for the weekends recently. Work can be stressful, I long for the days when I can get back to training initiates. Tris and I may have moved out of the Dauntless compound but we're still heavily involved with Dauntless life, which means training new initiates each year. Things are a little different but we still have a choosing ceremony each year and initiation for each faction. The only difference is that now the jobs you can get after initiation stretch over all the factions, and you can live 'off-compound' like Tris and myself.

I am already up and showered, I grab a clean black tee from the dresser and a pair of black pants. Nothing much has changed as far as fashion goes. I look at Tris still sleeping I won't wake her yet. She looks so peaceful.

Breakfast. Yes, I should make breakfast. I head out of our bedroom into the open living room/kitchen. This apartment is pretty fancy, all pained white with various strange black paintings on the wall. Unfortunately we can't re decorate. I grab some bacon from the fridge and turn the frying pan on.

A few minutes later the apartment is filled with the smell of frying bacon and I see Tris emerge at the bedroom door.

"Morning sunshine" I say,

"Mmhmm" she mumbles. I smile to myself, she's not much of a morning person, but at least I didn't have to wake her today. "Coffee?" I pour her a cup and slide it across the island as she sits down on a barstool.

"Mmm, thanks" she says her voice still groggy from sleep. She takes a few sips and eyes the frying pan, "so that bacon is all for me right?" she teases, the coffee clearly taking an effect. I laugh, "Uh, yeah, no, not really. This is for me, make your own breakfast." I furrow my brow and give her my best instructor Four face. She doesn't buy it. She sticks her tongue out at me and scrunches her nose, I just laugh. I fork half of the bacon onto a plate and give it to her. I put the rest on my plate and pour myself some coffee before sitting myself down on the barstool next to her. We eat in silence for a few minutes.

"Are we still going to Zeke's thing tonight?" she says between chews, "I was thinking of asking Christina to go shopping with me, I fancy a new outfit for the party." I turn and life an eyebrow at her, she looks back at me with an innocent look on her face, "What?" she says. "It's only a party at Zeke's" I reply, "Do you really need a new outfit?" I'll never understand girl's obsession with shopping. Tris was never into buying clothes when we first met, it's only been since the war that she's taken such an interest in it. I think it distracts her, and seeing as we both have jobs right now, we can afford a few extra credits here and there for her new hobby.

"I guess I don't _need_ a new outfit, but I want one," she says scrunching her eyes shut and smiling, her lips together. When her eyes are still closed I quickly lean in and steal a kiss, I make a loud, dramatic kissing sound when I do it, she opens her eyes and giggles. I love it when she giggles.

After Tris leaves, I pace around the apartment a bit fighting the nagging feeling that I should get some work done. In the end I loose my inner battle and sit down on the couch with various papers spread out in front of me. When did I become this old? I begin to thumb through the various documents, familiarizing myself with some of the new legislation. It's only been six months since we began and I'm pleased with how much progress has been made.

After an hour or so of reading over documents and trying to get my head around the complicated new systems and my role in them, I decide I'm done for the day. As I grab the various files and papers up into my hands, something slides out of the pile and drops onto the floor. It's a brown file folder; it looks like all of the 15 or so other folders so I pick it up paying no attention to it, but when I place it on the top of the pile I notice it has a red stamp on it stating 'Top Secret'. Oh dear, this shouldn't be here. I have a small staring contest with the file, contemplating reading it.

Yup. I'm going to do it.

I open the file and immediately wish I hadn't. The first page is a list of names with corresponding photos paper clipped in.

Tris's name is the first on the list.

Mine is the second.

There are about 15 names in this page, all of whom work at the Aon Center with Tris and me. My heart sinks as I read the small sentence at the bottom of the page:

'Suspected Divergent; increased surveillance in effect. Threat level: DEFCON 3'

* * *

**A/N - I know some of this might not make sense right now, but fear not i have a plan! :) A good story is full of twists and turns and there is a reason for everything!**

**R&R much appreciated! **


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